Age is just a number for Frances Piacun.
At 75, the Whakatipu Waka Ama Club founder/president is on Lake Whakatipu just about every day at 6.30am, coaching crews or training herself in a sport based around the traditional Pacific outrigger canoe.
She introduced waka ama to Queenstown 10 years ago, ostensibly to help her train for upcoming world champs.
But in so doing she’s introduced hundreds of locals to a sport that’s heavily entwined with cultural values while continuing fulltime work in retail — a sector in which she formerly forged a stellar career in design and marketing.
Brought up in the Far North, Frances’ dad was Croatian, her mum Maori (Te Arawa) and her maternal grandmother was English.
After secondary schooling in Auckland, she was a bank teller but also a part-time retail assistant and hairdresser.
She was also very active in sport, representing Auckland in netball — winning New Zealand under-21 selection — and softball.
Moving into clothing manufacturing, she was approached at just 21 by Levi Strauss executive Tom Tusher — who later established Glenorchy’s Blanket Bay lodge — to help set up the label in NZ in partnership with Deane Apparel.
Levi’s then sent her to Hong Kong and then Japan for five years where she worked with four fabric mills — "I was negotiating millions of metres of denim every quarter" — and also learnt Japanese.
After 10 years she left Levi’s, launched Sasson Jeans in Auckland and Australia, then consulted for Just Jeans.
Leaving the industry, Frances managed three BONZ stores on the Gold Coast for part-time Queenstowner Bonnie Rodwell, before being headhunted to manage five fine-food businesses at Brisbane International Airport.
At 50, an old Levi’s boss convinced her to work for IAS Learning Group, delivering programmes for kids and adults in NZ, Japan and China.
She next put down roots in Kaitaia, near her home town, where she opened an art gallery, homeware and clothing store.
Between times she had two brief marriages and had a son during her first.
After 10 years in the Far North, France was offered an art gallery manager’s job in Queenstown by Artbay owner Pauline Bianchi, which brought her here in 2014.
Eight years earlier she’d discovered waka ama when the sport was included in a multisport event she managed on Ninety Mile Beach.
"I said to one of the women on the committee, ‘I wouldn’t mind having a go at this’, and she said, ‘well, get a group of women your age and I’ll take you out’.
"And I was hooked.
"And my first nationals just opened my eyes to a sport where whole families can do it, and just the whole holistic side of waka ama made a huge impact on me."
For example, no smoking or swearing’s allowed around a waka, and every training’s preceded by a karakia, or prayer.
Having introduced the sport to Queenstown with a borrowed six-seater, the club’s become hugely successful in competitions and now boasts 10 wakas and about 70 members, half of them Maori.
Frances herself has now been to seven world champs where she’s won a swag of age-group medals, including golds.
Two years after setting up the club she also met her partner-to-be, Leon Williams, during a Dunedin comp — he’s her club captain, co-coach and also a regular at world champs.
She’s currently coaching three U16 girls’ crews, an U19 girls’ crew and a mums’ crew.
"We’re planning to take four girls’ crews to secondary schools nationals and at least two through to worlds in Singapore in 2026."
Frances also became the first South Islander to sit on the board of Waka Ama NZ and has also set up a club in Alexandra.
She says the sport keeps her mobile and her brain active.
"I don’t even think about my age," she says, while conceding she has to do strength training in the gym these days to maintain her form.
She notes the sport’s also a great way to appreciate Lake Whakatipu and the surrounding scenery.
"My mum has passed away now, but I used to ring her every morning and say, ‘you will not believe this place’."
A highlight was the club being invited to paddle into Queenstown Bay to open a former Winter Festival.
This past year, Frances has also gone full circle and is now managing the local BONZ store.
What she enjoys most is just the people she meets.
"I’ve got houses all over the world I’m told I can stay in."
